Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.F.A.
Degree Program
Creative Writing
Department
English
Major Professor
Juyanne James
Second Advisor
Randy Bates
Third Advisor
Dr. Doreen Piano
Abstract
The Other Side of the Tracks follows the life of a young Tarius as he navigates through a cunning Duggan, Texas, neighborhood where he consistently finds himself torn between two identities. On the one hand, there is the smart Tarius, the elementary school standout who is likable and innocent. On the other hand, sits the cool Tarius, the one who is influenced by an environment and decade predicated on the war on drugs. Guided by the psychological theme, environmental slavery, The Other Side of the Tracks is framed by two sets of railroad tracks that box in his neighborhood, creating a dichotomy of privileged / underprivileged, legal / illegal criminality. ES looks at, not the enslavement of a group of people by another, but the enslavement of a group of people (specifically one child) by the abstract, metaphysical, and simultaneously tangible environment. The two Tariuses then struggle against the governance of family values inside the house, and criminal values from the outside environment.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Tarius Montayj, "The Other Side of the Tracks" (2026). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 3387.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3387
Included in
American Literature Commons, Black History Commons, Law and Race Commons, Nonfiction Commons
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.